Model summary, concept map, review pages in manual
COMPILATION. Model summary, concept map, review pages in manual
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008
From: Mark Reif (RI)
1. How do other people use the "Study" page that is located in each of the mechanics
units? I have never used them, myself.
2. How do people use the "Review" pages, that are in many of the units? I don't use them
much, b/c I find that anything that is called review renews demands for the teacher to give the correct answer. I don't find time to do them via classroom whiteboarding or other techniques. Perhaps this is a place to give in? I used to be so hardcore, but maybe I'm getting mellow . . .
******************************************************************************
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008
From: Park, Nicholas
1. I see the "study" pages as one form of a concept map or model summary. I have taken the concept, but not the form. Soon after completing the paradigm lab, I lead the students in creating a "model summary," in flowchart form, on the board. I advise them to put all of their model summaries in the same part of their notebook, as a quick reference when they are choosing a model for solving problems later. For those that follow-through with it, it is an invaluable reference at exam time in February, when they've forgotten many of the details of, for example, uniformly accelerated motion.
2. In several of the units, I have found the review pages to be quite helpful. The sequence of worksheets and labs really maps out a learning journey for the class, and the review pages constitute a set of problems in which they must put things together at the same level that they will be expected to on their assessment - unlike, for example, WS1 or WS2. (That being said, I am selective in my use of worksheets because of time and in order to include other sorts of activities - but the progression in concept-development implied by the sequence of worksheets is a good guideline nonetheless.)
******************************************************************************
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008
From: Matt Greenwolfe
I don't use the study pages themselves, because I think it's important for the students to do more of the work of deciding what is important. Somewhere from the middle to the end of each unit, I do have the students make a summary board for the model. It must fit on one whiteboard without writing small or being cramped, and it must contain everything they feel important to know about that model.I suggest they include visual examples of diagrams and graphs, but it cannot contain every detail or every example problem, so it must contain the main concepts and representations only. Limiting the students to one whiteboard and forcing them to decide what is most important to include is an important part of the process. I find that with the study sheets, they include too much and it isn't as thoughtful of an exercise.
I have the different groups share their answers in a circle, so they get an idea of what other groups thought was important as well. During presentations, they must have a "story" about each equation – explaining how to derive it from a graph either by using slope and area or constructing it from separate proportionalities, each of which must make some common sense. (For example, a is proportional to 1/mass because if net force is the same on two objects, the larger object will accelerate more slowly.)
Once we've studied several models, I have each group make two whiteboards; one is a model summary and the other one is a concept map, where each model is in its own bubble and is placed inside of, next to, overlapping or connected by lines to illustrate how the models relate to each other.These tend to get more sophisticated as the year goes on. My favorite one has CVPM as a subset of CAPM and free particle as a subset of constant net force model. Then these two sets are connected by lines. Presentations of these make them refer to the models by name, and start to talk about how they fit together to make a theory.
******************************************************************************
1